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Choosing the correct puppy from a litter can seem like a huge decision. After all, what happens if you don’t choose the right one? However, this decision likely isn’t as big as many owners think. Many of the dogs in a litter are very similar. They do share the same genes, after all. Plus, how you raise your puppy is just as important, or more, as their genetics.
Still, you don’t want to choose an unhealthy puppy or one that doesn’t suit your family. Therefore, there are some things you should keep in mind when choosing a puppy.
How to Choose a Puppy From a Litter
1. Ask the Important Questions
Before you consider choosing a puppy from a specific litter, there is a lot of background research you need to do. Much of this involves asking the breeder questions and perhaps digging into the breeder’s reviews. Ask about the puppy’s health. Was the mother dewormed? Has the puppy been vaccinated? Can you see the puppy’s vet record?
Quality breeders will start the puppy’s vaccinations before sending them to their forever homes. Plus, puppies should be treated for intestinal parasites, too.
You should also ask about what the puppy is eating. All puppies should be well adapted to solid food before being separated from their mother. However, some breeders may attempt to sell puppies sooner for their own benefit. Ensure the breeder you’re working with doesn’t fall into that category.
2. Watch the Litter Interact
When you first meet a litter of puppies, you should observe how the puppies interact first. The puppies should seem playful, bright, and healthy. However, there will likely be some quiet puppies in the bunch. This is fine and doesn’t necessarily mean that there is anything wrong with the quieter puppies. However, it can indicate personality differences you may want to keep in mind.
Furthermore, you should also look at the litter’s health as a whole. The play area should be clean, there should not be a smell, and the puppies should have healthy coats. Their eyes and noses should be clean. It’s important to keep their coat and ears in mind, as it is one of the easiest ways to determine health at a glance.
None of the puppies should limp or have a hard time getting around. Puppies tend to be clumsy, but they shouldn’t have any issues running and playing.
3. Observe the Individual Puppy
Once you’ve narrowed it down to a couple of puppies, you need to look closely at their appearance. You should separate the puppy from its littermates (which could just involve picking it up). Their eyes shouldn’t have any drainage or redness. The eyes should be bright and clear, without hair loss around the eye.
The ears shouldn’t have an odor (which can indicate infection). The ear flaps should have healthy hair along the outside. Puppies that scratch or shake their ears a lot may have ear infections.
Take a look at the puppy’s nose. It shouldn’t be dry and it shouldn’t have any discharge. You shouldn’t be able to “hear” the puppy breathing in a raspy manner. The head overall should be without skin issues or bald patches.
A puppy’s gums and teeth should appear normal. The gums should be bright and pink without serious changes in coloration. The teeth should be white. All of the teeth should be there unless you’re adopting an older puppy. Puppies do lose their milk teeth just like humans do.
The puppy’s teeth should align closely. Even in breeds with an under-bite, it is recommended to choose animals with less of an under-bite to prevent potential dental issues in the future. Many breeders may use the breed standard of an underbite to sell unhealthy puppies, so keep a close eye out for this.
A dog’s skin and coat are easy to check for overall health, though it isn’t fool-proof. If a dog’s coat is patchy or there is flaking of the skin, it could indicate an underlying problem.
What About Personality?
We’ve talked a lot about how to choose a healthy puppy in the tips above. However, we haven’t discussed temperament at all. This is because it is challenging to determine temperament at such an early age. Just like humans, dogs will develop their temperament over many years. It isn’t something innate and unchangeable.
How you raise your puppy is important. Training and early socialization are required. Therefore, what you do with the puppy after adopting it is far more important than which puppy you choose.
Furthermore, if you’ve already narrowed it down to a specific litter, then the difference between puppies will probably be very small. You may be able to get some idea of what a puppy will act like by watching them interact with their littermates. Some dogs may be more playful and outgoing, while others may be more timid. However, how a puppy interacts with its littermates may have little to do with how they’ll act a year or so down the road. A dog’s personality doesn’t change a lot once they hit the 1- and 2-year mark.
Therefore, don’t worry too much about checking a dog’s personality before adopting it. Some websites have “tests” to perform on puppies to ensure they will behave later. However, as we’ve said, how you raise the puppy is far more important than how they act when this young.
Conclusion
You should check several things before adopting a puppy to ensure they are healthy. While these health tests aren’t fool-proof, they will reveal obvious problems. We also recommend taking your puppy to the vet for a health check-up shortly after adoption. Not only will the dog need vaccinations, but the vet can also check for underlying health problems.
It’s difficult to predict your dog’s temperament when they’re a young puppy. Dogs change a lot over the first few years of life. A docile puppy may become outgoing in a few months. Therefore, don’t stress about performing all sorts of temperament checks on a puppy. In the end, they don’t mean much.
Instead, your energy would be better spent researching how to raise a puppy. Early training and socialization are vital to having a well-adjusted dog.
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Featured Image Credit: Jumpstory
